Darius Ferlas
04-02-2010, 9:47 AM
A few weeks ago high winds in Niagara knocked some trees down. A fella had one of those. A buddy of mine from work knows the fella and he also has another buddy who has a portable mill. The tree was about to be chopped for firewood when my work buddy said to his tree buddy that would be a shame to waste this log for firewood instead of asking the portable mill buddy to mill the log into something prettier. He offered his own firewood in exchange for the cherry logs so he could give them to me for no charge. OK, it's getting complicated. Long story short, delivered an hour ago, 200bf of cherry lumber and there was a charge after all - all of $40 (beer plus gas).
These are the benefits of working in a rural area where life seems somewhat less competitive and there is a lot of bartering going on. Sometimes the currency seems to be simple kindness and reciprocation of favors when needed.
The lumber is 9 feet 6 inches long, mostly 8/4 and a some 4/4. Looks like very good quality wood. While unloading the boards (the green 8/4 are ball busting heavy) I counted 3 knots in the whole pile and almost no sap wood.
Originally I hoped to have it kiln dried for $50 but the kiln operator who is yet another buddy of my work buddy (yup, lotsa buddies) confirmed some of what other Creekers kindly warned me about in another thread. The way the kiln operation operation is set up the fast drying would ruin the wood, so I opted for air drying. In two to three years these beautiful boards will hopefully be turned into something more useful.
Now I gotta paint the ends and sticker the pile but I'm not sure if I need to use some special paint, or would regular oil paint do?
These are the benefits of working in a rural area where life seems somewhat less competitive and there is a lot of bartering going on. Sometimes the currency seems to be simple kindness and reciprocation of favors when needed.
The lumber is 9 feet 6 inches long, mostly 8/4 and a some 4/4. Looks like very good quality wood. While unloading the boards (the green 8/4 are ball busting heavy) I counted 3 knots in the whole pile and almost no sap wood.
Originally I hoped to have it kiln dried for $50 but the kiln operator who is yet another buddy of my work buddy (yup, lotsa buddies) confirmed some of what other Creekers kindly warned me about in another thread. The way the kiln operation operation is set up the fast drying would ruin the wood, so I opted for air drying. In two to three years these beautiful boards will hopefully be turned into something more useful.
Now I gotta paint the ends and sticker the pile but I'm not sure if I need to use some special paint, or would regular oil paint do?